Twenty years after its discovery in the River Severn, a human foot has now been identified as belonging to a former Lancaster student.
Graham Maxwell Rogers went missing aged 26 on April 10, 1993, while living with his parents in Wotton-under-Edge, in Gloucestershire. He had left his parents’ house, and his car was found on April 19 in Chepstow, near the Rivers Severn and Wye. He was known to have a history of depression.
The remains of a human foot were discovered in flood defences on the River Severn on November 7 of that year. However, forensic DNA testing in 1994 was unable to identify to whom the foot belonged. However, advances in DNA testing led to it being retested in December of last year, and a match was obtained, comparing DNA from the body part with his next of kin. An inquest states that the foot is one billion times more likely to be Mr Rogers’ foot than to belong to anybody else.
Katie Skerrett, Deputy Assistant Coroner, recorded an open verdict and the cause of death as unascertained.
